The Midlands Arts and Culture Magazine, which is in its 18th edition is out now with all your arts and culture news from counties Offaly, Laois, Longford, and Westmeath - and better still is free.
The magazine is commissioned by the arts officers in all four county councils in a unique collaboration to showcase what is on offer throughout the Midlands.
The magazine, designed by Tempus Media and Brosna Press can be picked up at the four county council buildings and some shops throughout the counties.
The Midlands Arts and Culture Magazine showcases the talent present in the Midlands from authors, to ballet dancers, sopranos to photographers, milliners to actresses and playwrights, and everything in between.
This issue features an in-depth interview with Longford native Lorna Quinn, who recently appeared in Fair City and who will be working on Bedroom Farce by Alan Ayckbourn in the New Year at The Gate Theatre, Dublin.
In County Offaly, production company Mixed Bag Media tells the Midlands Arts and Culture Magazine what it’s like to work as a husband and wife team. Martina McGlynn explained: ”There is great satisfaction when a production works well, because you are getting to share it with the person closest in your life. That makes it very rewarding.”
After three years gigging together, Laois-based band Adela & the Meanits have finally manifested their unusual combination of genres and styles into a tangible form and created a CD. Read how this band took on the ambitious task of touring every county in Ireland in a month!
Finally, in Westmeath a newly opened art gallery which focuses on exhibits made of stone has recently opened in Kilbeggan. The art gallery has already had sculptures from some of the country’s finest stone carvers including Barry Wrafter who created the statue that stands outside Belvedere house in Mullingar, Jason Ellis a world renowned sculptor, and many others.
Others featured in the magazine include: the FilmOffaly/Filmbase-funded film Toy Soldiers, which was shot on location in Tullamore last winter, and premiered locally in May has just won Best First Short Drama at the Galway Film Fleadh; in his first official appointment to Laois, the President of Ireland visited two art venues which jointly celebrated over two decades of art and culture; County Longford writers get honoured in a special evening in Dublin’s Parnell Square; something for every child at Mullingar Arts Centre and following his acclaimed memoir The Invisible Prison, Pat Boran’s first full length collection of poems in over a decade entitled The Next Life has been published.
To read these stories and much more call into your local arts office for the latest edition of the Midlands Arts and Culture Magazine.
